So I’ve noticed over the past 15 years or so that whenever I draw an animal, that animal shows up in real life within a few days. Just last week I painted a lone harbor seal and the next day I saw a lone harbor seal watching my dogs from the shore break. I have […]
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I was at Trader Joe’s today to pick up a couple of free range chickens for Thanksgiving. It was very busy due to the holiday. At the checkout, I let the young cashier know I was a bossy bagger so no need to bag my groceries, I’d do it. “Oh cool, thanks! That helps a […]
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During the pandemic shut down I have hardly seen any pigeons. With all the restaurants and bars closed and everyone else sheltering in place there is no longer a free and easy food source where they can manically gather, gobbling up every crumb. I don’t see them fighting each other over every bean and grain […]
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In a wild land with strong rivers cutting through it on the way to the sea, there lived a man named Edgar that would walk down to one of these rivers to fish nearly every day. One spring morning he was baiting his hook when the largest bald eagle he had ever seen swooped down […]
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With crows standing up to 21 inches high and weighing about a pound with a wingspan between 35-40 inches, a sharp beak and wily intelligence, I always figured a crow would be a sure winner over the seagull in a beach battle. But this week I saw an actual seagull vs. crow battle take place […]
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While jogging on the beach last week I noticed a seagull standing alone, further up on the beach than the other seagulls that were all eating big crabs left over from high tide at the water line. As I ran past I realized that he was holding his foot up, just resting his toe on […]
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I went to move my truck for street cleaning this morning a little before nine. In my peripheral vision I saw what seemed to be a homeless lady that was maybe a little bit nutty, walking towards me in a pretty rose colored short bathrobe and white slippers. Well those aren’t going to stay clean […]
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I walked by an inspiring blackbird in a parking lot the other day. His foot was perfectly severed and had healed back cleanly, with no clumpy scar left over so his leg looked like a piece of dry spaghetti, except it was black. And he didn’t care at all. He was just hopping around in […]
Read more »A couple of years ago, outside of my apartment, a pigeon flew past me frantically flapping his wings but barely being able to fly higher than about my shoulder. A pink plastic bag was attached to his foot. With each attempt to fly, just as he was becoming airborne, the bag would fill with air […]
Read more »I took a walk early one morning in a nice neighborhood up the hill from mine. Half way through, I came upon two crows eating a rat. Of course I was totally grossed out but also worried because maybe the rat had been poisoned.
Read more »I used to take care of a lonely cockatoo named Buddy. His home was a greenhouse in the backyard of his owner’s house that was rarely there. I was supposed to clean his glass house and feed him when Tony, the owner, was out of town. At first I was terrified of the big bird […]
Read more »Britt and I were enjoying one of the last warm days of fall, sitting in the water at Ocean Beach, waiting for a wave, when we saw it. At first we thought it was a rogue local storm raining down in the water south of us. But it was moving and reshaping itself unlike any […]
Read more »#27 Because they play team sports in the air. It’s true, I witnessed this myself a few years ago. Hiking in a windy valley I saw 8 or 9 crows flying and swooping high above me, chasing each other. I stopped to watch and realized they weren’t just randomly flying, they were playing catch with […]
Read more »I was waiting at a stop light one afternoon when a big hawk dropped out of the sky in front of my windshield. He snatched a pigeon out of mid air and landed with it on the roof of a car next to me. The light turned green and I drove away still watching the […]
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